The day after the wedding, Kevin and I set out to climb the cinder cone in the NE corner of the park.
All photos link to larger versions
Out of the ashes, this little tree was growing one hundred feet away from a mountainous wall of lava.
The Painted Dunes
Amidst the gaseous explosions and splintering rock, lava oozed forth from vents near the foot of the cindercone.
The lava formed an enormous field of black jagged rock, splitting a nearby lake into two.
Ashes fell all over the nearby region. Wind and gravity brought them together into the basin that now holds the Painted Dunes.
The cinder cone loomed ahead as we rounded the last corner of the approach trail.
The trail up the cone.
700 feet and dusty.
The double crater at the top.
Lassen in the backgronud.